Companies fined for hood and neck drawstrings

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Fourteen companies have agreed to pay more than $1 million in civil penalties for failing to promptly report sales of children’s clothing with drawstrings through the hood or neck, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said today.

Safety experts said these drawstrings can get caught in other objects and cause children to get strangled or trapped. In May 2006, the commission announced that all children’s jackets, sweaters and other upper outerwear with drawstrings at the hood or neck would be ‘regarded as defective and a substantial risk of injury to young children.’

The commission said the 14 companies, which include T.J. Maxx, did not immediately report the hazardous products, which all were recalled eventually. In settling the matter, the companies denied knowingly violating the law.

-- Andrea Chang